KimiUso Epilogue: Cherry Blossom Ghosts
by TheRoseShadow21
Summary: "And his music…it's colourful again. It's beautiful, it's radiant…and some of it, he plays for you, and only you. But sometimes, he plays for me, and only me. And if you hadn't passed through his life that year…none of that would have happened. None of it." Multi-generational epilogue fic. Has lots of KouseiXEmi but with plenty of focus on other characters too. Rated T to be safe.
1. Part 1

**Like with all my other epilogue fics, this one was supposed to just be a oneshot. But it kind of started to write itself, and so it is going to end up being a two or three-parter. This is the first part. **

**A big thank-you needs to go to Yanina (qdecim on Tumblr), because she helped a lot with this. First inadvertently when I stumbled across an excellent text post which explains why Kousei/Emi is an amazing ship in a clear way. Before that, I wasn't really sure how to explain why I shipped them. Anyway, she then directly helped me by letting me bounce Kousei/Emi ideas off her. So, if you're reading this, THANK YOU!**

"And erm, what else? Oh, yeah! I won the last 'challenge'. Takeshi's not happy with that, at all. But, I wonder, what song should I pick this time? "

Kousei paused, and wondered what else to say. It had been nearly two years since Kaori Miyazono had died- next April, he'd be in his third year in high school. It hadn't been an easy two years, for he still had panic attacks from time to time, and there were some pieces he still found it hard to play without being drowned in sorrow. But he had managed, and flourished, and he no longer felt like he lived in a monotone world. He had grown up, as Hiroko would often tell him. And during all that time, whenever he had come home, whether it was for the weekend or for holidays, he made a point of visiting the cemetery, so that he could update both Kaori and his mother on the things that had been going on in his life. It had become something of a ritual, and it was comforting.

He was just about to complain about Takeshi's song choices, when Nagi's voice interrupted him.

"Talking to yourself again, Sensei? That's the first sign of madness, you know." The comment was made in a jokey tone of voice, and Kousei turned to see Nagi with Koharu, both of them trying hard not to giggle. Eventually, Koharu couldn't stop herself and she laughed and ran up to Kousei.

"Kou-nii!" she shrieked, leaping into his arms.

"Hello, Koharu-Chan." Kousei smiled, and after hugging Koharu, got up.

"So, since you came all this way to find me, do you want an extra lesson, Nagi-san?" Kousei asked, jokingly. As predicted, Nagi pouted impressively.

"Arima-sensei! School's just broken up for Winter Break! And I have a lesson with you tomorrow!"

"Play for me, play for me!" Koharu interjected, running around in circles in front of them as they began walking out of the cemetery.

"Sure thing, Koharu-Chan." Kousei said. At first, both he and Hiroko had thought that Koharu would become a pianist too, but she had ended up showing more interest in ballet, and for fun, whenever Koharu came to visit, he would play some Tchaikovsky on the piano, and she would spin around and around in glee. All that was needed was for Hiroko to find ballet lessons that Koharu could attend.

"Hey, you wouldn't want to disappoint Koharu-Chan now, would you?" he whispered to Nagi. She pulled a face at him, and then grinned, silently telling him that she didn't mind.

"Anyway." She said, changing the subject. "Did I hear you say that you won the last round with Onii-Chan? He's going to be moaning about it at dinner tonight, isn't he?"

Kousei laughed, and then proceeded to tell her about their recent 'challenge'. These had been a tradition that had started soon after he had begun his life as a high-school student. To his surprise, both Takeshi and Emi had been in the same class as him, and they quickly started hanging out as a trio, supporting and teasing each other in equal measure. they were 'The Piano Musketeers' , as Tsubaki put it. But Takeshi, ever the competitive soul, had proposed that every week or so, they should pick a piece of music, and each play it to determine who the best was. They had started with classical pieces, and then moved on to soundtracks from games, movies and anime. Emi was their initially reluctant judge, but she soon got into it, giving the 'loser' a forfeit of having to carry everyone else's bags for the week, or buying them all lunch the next day. She also proposed that the winner would choose the next piece to play. Kousei enjoyed these 'challenges', as they gave him a fresh angle on his playing. It was also just a whole lot of fun.

"Kou-nii, I'm hungry!"

"Do you want to buy something to eat, or shall we wait until we're at my house?"

"Buy something, buy something!" Koharu said, jumping up and down. Then, she remembered her manners and added "Please!"

So they stopped off at the convenience store, and bought more snacks than they would actually need, and headed over to Kousei's house.

"Give me a moment." Kousei said as he opened the door and went upstairs to leave his bag in his bedroom. He paused to look through his window, and saw that Tsubaki was home. He rapped on the window, and Tsubaki looked up. He waved, and she grinned.

"You're coming for dinner, remember?" she mouthed. Kousei nodded, and gave her a thumbs up, before waving again and running downstairs. _I have amazing friends_, he thought. He was better able to appreciate that than he had been two years ago.

When he went into the room where his piano was kept, Nagi was already sitting at the piano, her coat and school bag carelessly flung into a corner. Koharu had also put her bag there, and was taking off her coat.

"I hope you weren't going to start without me, Nagi-san."

"Don't be ridiculous, Arima-sensei!" Nagi shuffled over on the bench to make room for him, and he sat down.

"So, Sleeping Beauty Waltz then?" he asked. Nagi nodded.

"Sleeping Beauty Waltz." She confirmed.

And then, they began to play.

**…**

The final year of high school went by quickly for all of them. Watari's football team went from strength to strength, as did he, himself. He even visited the United Kingdom a few times, as preparation for when he would inevitably have to move there. But Watari was clear on the fact that he did not want to make a permanent move until after he was twenty, and they'd had their Coming-Of-Age ceremony. In the meantime, he was still himself, drifting in and out of relationships with girls without a care in the world, but still being the good, supportive friend he was.

Tsubaki still continued to play baseball for fun, but she eventually decided a sporting career was not for her. Somehow, in the process of studying hard for the sake of attending a high-school near Kousei's, she had developed an interest in academia, which persisted even after her feelings for Kousei faded and settled into those of a deep friendship. So she decided to study to get a place in a university, and just see where life took her.

Kashiwagi also wanted to go into university. Surprising everyone who knew her (apart from Tsubaki ,who knew of her BL manga addiction) , she wanted to become someone who wrote an advice column in a magazine, specialising in romance and relationship issues. To that end, she decided that she would study psychology. But before that, she was going to travel the world. Her life was also turned upside down by the unexpected arrival of little sister Mio. But it was a change she seemed to welcome.

Naturally, Takeshi, Emi and Kousei were all going to continue being pianists. They all wanted to peform professionally, but Kousei had the extra ambition of wanting to teach the piano as well. In their final year, one of their assignments was to compose a short piece of their own, and peform it in a special concert near the end of the year, and all three of them found inspiration from their own lives. Takeshi wrote a long, catchy yet powerful piece called 'Goodbye, Hero', Emi's was a soulful and angry piece titled 'Unchanging Love Song'.  
And Kousei, being Kousei wrote two pieces. The one he ended up using was called 'In the Sunflower Fields', inspired by something Emi had told him about his performances as a child. But it was the other piece, the first one he had written, that was the one he was the most proud of. But it was too close to his heart. That piece was titled 'Cherry Blossom Ghosts', and he kept it in a drawer, safe, for the day he would be brave enough to share it with the world.

**…**

"Ahh, that speech was so BORING!" Tsubaki complained as their small group followed countless other 20-year-olds out of the town hall and into the hall where the _real_ celebrations were happening. She looked in her small bag for her mobile, and then pushed up the long sleeves of her kimono so they wouldn't get in the way of her sending a text.

"Oh, oh, look at that! She's sending another text to Tadashi-kun!" Watari commented, spotting Tsubaki do this.

"Ah, it's really quite funny. When you were going out with Saito-sempai, you couldn't stop talking about Arima-kun, and now you're with Tadashi, you can't stop telling us about him. Or contacting him." Kashiwagi observed. Tsubaki gave them both a death-glare, visibly refraining from kicking them.

"Did that really happen?" Kousei wondered aloud, looking cluelessly at his childhood friends. Emi couldn't help but snicker at his expression. His denseness was refreshing, even now. He turned and pulled a face at her, before turning back to Watari, who was sighing and shaking his head.

"Kousei," Watari said slowly, "Have a think about that." Kousei obliged willingly, and then sighed.

"Ah, we were children then." He reasoned, smiling. Then, his stomach rumbled. He blinked, and looked down for a moment, then turned around to look at Takeshi and Emi.

"What do you say to some food?" he asked them. Takeshi grinned.

"Let's celebrate becoming members of society in style!" he crowed, leading the way. Emi rolled her eyes, hoping she wouldn't have to deal with a drunken Takeshi by the end of the night. Unfortunately, she thought that she would. But if that did happen, she'd rope Kousei into helping, too.

Watari, Kashiwagi and Tsubaki went to talk to some other people they knew, and Emi was glad. The only thing she really had in common with those three happened to be a friendship with Kousei. They weren't bad people, per se (although initially Watari had irritated her by calling her 'Emi-Chan' right from the beginning, and it had been Tsubaki who had coined the annoying term 'Piano Musketeers' to describe her, Takeshi and Kousei), but she just found it difficult to hang around with them. But for now, she decided to forget all that, and just enjoy the night.

As she sat, eating with Takeshi and Kousei and discussing the finer points of food and music (with the occasional foray into the topic of younger sisters), she found her eyes drifting to Kousei more often than she wanted.

His smiles, his laughter, and the way he would blink in confusion. How he couldn't seem to decide whether he should leave his tie tight or loose. The sorrow etched around his eyes, which still sparkled behind his glasses. He'd changed so much, and so many times, and he was no longer the same boy she'd seen at five years old. He wasn't even the human metronome or the lost, tragic mess. Yet, she still recognised the source of her reason for playing. He was just Kousei Arima, simple as that. And that made him radiant.

Later in the night, when Tsubaki had dragged him away to talk to some of the girls from their middle school, he found himself looking for an escape, and his gaze fell on Emi Igawa. The strong presence she'd had at fourteen had increased and grown with her now, and the red and gold kimono she was wearing only served to heighten this. He noticed how she was the only one of the girls in the room whose hair wasn't tied, decorated with hairpins, or both. He could also swear that he could pick out the rich honey tones of her voice from the hundreds of voices that crisscrossed everywhere. In other words, she was beautiful.

_Oh. Oh, right, she is. _

He sat there, and let the confusion hit him. He looked away from Emi, and continued the conversations he was reluctantly having, relieved nobody had noticed him staring. Then, at the nearest opportunity, he excused himself, and went outside for air.

It was cold, but not that much, so he wasn't worried. He sat on a bench, and looked up at the clear night sky. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo he had carried with him. It was one he normally kept in a frame on his bedside table wherever he was living, but he had brought it with him today, for luck.

_I haven't forgotten you. I haven't. _He silently repeated those words over and over to the smiling face of five-year-old Kaori.

"Oh, you're out here as well." Emi stated, surprising Kousei as she came out and sat on the bench next to him.

"Not well?" she enquired. Kousei shook his head, then noticed Emi looking curiously at the photograph he was holding.

"I was just thinking, we're celebrating our Coming of Age, and Miyazono-san's never going to come of age."

"That's hardly your fault." Emi scolded, gently. She was familiar with Kaori Miyazono, if only as a story, a legend of sorts. The girl who'd managed to get Kousei back into music, and then died. She took a closer look at the little girl in the photograph, scrutinising the smile and the bright eyes, the way she was flashing a peace-sign at the camera. There was no hint of the sadness that was to come. Then she noticed the other side of the picture.

"Is that you?" she asked, incredulously. Her eyes moved from the little boy accidentally captured in the photo to Kaori and back again. Suddenly, she realised that there was another reason she recognised the little girl.

"That is me. She saw my first ever performance, you know." He said, wistfully, recalling the contents of the letter that he kept safe in his drawers.

"I did too!" Emi said, surprised. Kousei turned to look at her, and she mentally face-palmed. Kousei already knew this, she had said as much before. But she hadn't told the whole story. On an impulse, she decided he deserved to know.

"I was so moved, I started crying afterwards. I decided to become a pianist at that point. " She confessed. She pointed to Kaori in the photo, but Kousei had already connected the dots.

"You sat next to her. You're the little crying girl." He said, blinking. Emi nodded. Kousei sighed, and then gave a slight smile.

"I know it wasn't my fault, or anyone's. I just think of her, from time to time. I just miss her." He said, referring to the earlier comment Emi had made. He slipped the photo back inside his pocket. Then, they looked up at the sky together, not saying a word.

After a while, he turned to Emi, hoping to gaze upon her now that they were in a quiet moment. But when he did, he saw her staring at him too. Almost on reflex, they both reddened and turned away from each other. They remained like that for a moment, and then, Kousei tried again, only to find that Emi was watching him, again.

"Don't you dare look away." She whispered, fiercely, her eyes burning with anger and something else he couldn't quite name. It reminded him of the way she played. It was also similar to the way she'd get him to deal with panic attacks in school, when his hands shook too much to be able to put them on the keys. She'd sit next to him, and start playing half of a duet, or even a solo piece, taunting him with the incomplete sound until he started playing to fill in the gaps. Now, she was taunting him with her gaze. If he looked away, something would always be incomplete.

"To be honest," He replied, hesitantly "I don't want to look away." Carefully, he edged across the bench until they were so close their foreheads were touching.

"I don't want to." He repeated. Emi's eyes flickered, and he realised all over again how beautiful she was. Gently, reached out to tuck a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, and kept his hand there. Emi's eyes widened, but she didn't look away, or move back. Time passed by, without the two of them saying anything. The sounds of the celebrations inside could be heard, but they didn't register any of those sounds. They just existed, in their own little world. And then, as if it was somehow predestined, as if everything had been leading up to that little moment, they kissed.

Another lifetime passed before they pulled away from each other. Almost automatically, they reached for each other's hands. Emi looked down at them, noticing how carefully and gently Kousei's hands seemed to grip hers, and how hers seem to fit in that grip perfectly.

_Pianist's hands, _she thought. _Kousei's hands._

"Hey, Emi?" Kousei sounded hesitant, and a little scared. Emi looked back up at him, and to her surprise saw that his eyes were glittering with unshed tears, even though he seemed happy, as if he had realised something good.

"Hmm?"

"I think…I think I might be falling in love with you." The surprise in Kousei's voice made Emi laugh, unexpectedly.

"You know what? I think I might be falling in love with you, too.

**…**

Emi took the bunch of flowers from Kousei so that he could slot the sprigs of cherry blossoms into the other bouquet, and then retie the ribbon that was originally around it. It was April, and Kousei was making one of his frequent visits to the cemetery to visit both his mother and Kaori Miyazono. As Emi didn't have any performances, and didn't have to go to her part time job at the coffee store until later that day, she decided to accompany him.

"Here, I'll hold that one now." Emi exchanged the flowers she was holding with the cherry-blossom bouquet Kousei was holding, so that when they got to Saki Arima's gravestone, he could put the flowers down.

"Thanks." Kousei smiled at Emi, and she smiled back. They fell into a comfortable silence as they entered the cemetery, the only sounds being their footsteps, their breathing and the spring breeze.

They arrived at Saki Arima's gravestone first. Emi's opinions on the woman had changed dramatically. As a child, she had been annoyed, for in her eyes, this was the woman who had changed the pianist who inspired her into the human metronome that the classical music circles couldn't get enough of. But time and maturity had changed that, and all she saw was a sad story of hopelessness and mistakes that nobody had wanted to make. That, and the woman _was_ Kousei's mother. With both her parents alive and well, Emi knew what having a mother meant to a person.

And that was demonstrated in the way Kousei gently put the flowers down in front of the headstone.

"Hi, Mum." He spoke. "Emi's with me today. How are you doing, wherever you are? I hope there's a piano there, so that you can play. We both still play, here in the living world, although we don't have any competitions or concerts coming up. I've got two new students who might be coming to me tomorrow though."

"And I'm performing at Tsubaki-san's wedding next month. " Emi added. "They wanted Kousei to play, but he should be a guest, so I offered, since I don't really know her that well."

"You remember Tsubaki, don't you, Mum? She lived next door to us. Can you honestly imagine her, of all people, settling down and getting married at 21?" Kousei laughed. "But she is. She's really serious about Tadashi. And I'm glad for her. We all are."

Kousei continued prattling on, and Emi occasionally interjected. The conversation felt a little bit like what she imagined they would have talked about if Saki Arima was alive. But there was no way of knowing, so she pushed aside the line of thought.

When they had finished at his mother's grave, they headed over to Kaori Miyazono's grave. This time, Emi put the flowers down, but she didn't say anything as Kousei talked. Although she had gone to visit Kousei's mother's grave many times before, she hadn't been to Kaori's all that often. But she had thought a lot about the girl.

"Emi, I've finished."

Emi blinked, realising she had been lost in thought.

"Oh, okay." She started to walk off with Kousei, and then made an impulse decision.

"Actually, you go on ahead. I want to tell her something."

Kousei opened his mouth to ask her what she meant, and then thought better of it. He shrugged.

"Okay then. I'll meet you at the gate. Don't take too long!"

Emi waited until Kousei was completely out of earshot, and then knelt down in front of the headstone.

"Kaori. I know we didn't _really_ meet, but I feel like we both know each other, so I'll just call you that. After all, 16 years ago, did we not sit next to each other while watching the same recital? Did we not get inspired by the same boy, all those years ago? We're exactly the same, but in completely different ways. Yet…it was you who reached him first, and now you're residing in a particular piece of his heart. That piece will never be open, to anyone, at all. Not even me. And he loves me. I know he does. So, on some level, as a woman, I'm pretty damn jealous of you. I envy you for the time you had with him, and how you managed to reach him.

But…at the same time, we were never just _girls_, were we? We're also musicians. It's how we live, how we breathe. We're _defined_ by music. Kousei is too, but yet I know when you met him, back when we were fourteen that you were both dying. Well, technically, you were the one actually dying. He was just doing so mentally, because he was avoiding playing. Post-traumatic stress, or something. Yet you were blown into his life and changed all of that. You brought him back, and in doing so he gave you a reason to fight your fate. I know you lost, but you passed that fighting spirit to him. It hasn't been easy, you know. I've seen him cry, and shake, and curl up in a corner and forget to eat and all sorts.

But he's managing, in fact, he's shining. And I've had so many good times with him. We became friends, and now I'm his girlfriend. And his music…it's colourful again. It's beautiful, it's radiant…and some of it, he plays for you, and only you. But sometimes, he plays for _me_, and only me. And if you hadn't passed through his life that year…none of that would have happened. None of it. I know that if you were living now I wouldn't have even got a look-in romantically. I'd be nursing a case of unrequited love as bad as Tsubaki-san's was before she met Tadashi-kun. But I think I would have still been his friend, and you would have been, too. But you're not. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I am grateful to you. I know you only intended to fulfil your own last wish, and change Kousei's life while you were at it. But you did so much more than that, and I'm really, really glad you did. So, I don't mind that you are still such a big part of his life, and heart. Most other girls would be just jealous, I think, and a little pissed off. Like I said, part of me is jealous, but the rest of me? That isn't, not at all.

So, I won't ever stop him from thinking of you, or talking about you, or coming to visit you here. I'll let him keep the photo you gave him next to the photo of the two of us. I'll let him cry for you when he finds himself feeling sad. But what I _won't_ let him do is forget you. No. I won't do that to you, Kaori. I won't let him forget you. And I won't forget you either, even though I never knew you."

Emi finished her outburst and took a moment to gather her breath. Then, after taking one long look at the gravestone and the pink flowers leaning against it, she walked towards the cemetery gates. Towards Kousei.

**…**

Soon after they both turned 23, Kousei realised that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Emi. He wanted to marry her, start a family with her, the works. But as it was a monumental step, he kept quiet about his desires while he worked it all out. First, he searched for the perfect engagement ring. Then, he looked for the perfect song to play to her. Because what better way to ask than through a song, or a meaningful piece? He searched for ages, looking through his old music scores, and looking up others online whenever Emi wasn't looking. When he found the perfect song, it was so obvious; it almost made him groan at his stupidity. After that, he practised it obsessively, fitting it in wherever he could, all the while making sure Emi didn't hear it. He even set it as a piece for a few of his students to play, so that if she did overhear it she wouldn't know.

Eventually, one day in the autumn, when they were both at his house, Kousei asked Emi to listen to a piece he had been learning. As they listened to each other play all the time, Emi questioned Kousei about why he was insistent on her listening, but he just smiled and insisted that she needed to listen to know. So they went to his piano, and with Emi sitting on the stool next to him, he played the piano arrangement of Kreisler's '_Love's Joy'_.

_The obvious choice. I was brought up on Love's Sorrow, but love isn't all about sadness. It's about the happiness, the life you can build from it. Love has joy in it, too. And you, Emi, you're that joy. I want to have that joy forever. I want to feel this happy for the rest of my life. Do you want that too? Do you want to be happy like this with me? I hope you do. _

He poured all his heart into the song, hoping that it reached her, wishing that it would. He barely dared to look at her while he played. But once the final notes had sounded out, he turned to look at her.

Emi looked at Kousei, tilting her head curiously. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were pink. She opened her mouth to say something, and then changed her mind, seemingly deciding to keep quiet and consider her options for a moment longer.

He wondered if he had asked something ridiculous of her, if it was stupid to assume that someone like Emi would marry him, no matter how many times they had told each other they loved each other. He opened his mouth to apologise and backtrack when Emi interrupted his thoughts suddenly.

"I want to take you somewhere."

"Sure. Where do you want to go?" he asked. The request was strange, but it was better than outright refusal. He decided to see what would come of it.

"You'll see." Emi smiled like a little girl with a secret as she went to get her coat. Kousei followed suit, putting the ring he had carefully chosen in his pocket, and soon they were outdoors, walking through their hometown. As they got to the bridge over the river, Emi took his hand and dragged him, leading the way. She didn't explain where they were going, and he didn't ask. He just wondered what she was thinking.

"Here." she said. They stopped. Kousei noticed they were at a children's playground. It wasn't the one he had frequented as a child, but he felt like he vaguely recognised it. As the sun was nearly setting, there were no children to be seen, but that didn't seem to concern Emi, who let go of Kousei's hand and walked over to the cage-like climbing frame. She looked up at it, regarding it. After some hesitation, Kousei joined her, and looked up at the climbing frame too. He looked at her, and again wondered what she was thinking.

"I used to play here as a child." she explained, simply.

"Okay..." Kousei was now even more confused a feeling that was exacerbated when she began to climb up.

"Ah...Emi..." He said, ineffectually. Kousei blinked, and could only watch as she went up to the top with very little difficulty. He stared as she seemed to decide whether or not to stand up, and breathed a sigh of relief when she seemed to decide not to, instead sitting right at the very edge and looking up at the sky. There was a faint autumn breeze that tangled bright autumn leaves in her dark hair before flying off again. Combined with the serene, nostalgic expression on her face, it made her look positively enchanting. My autumnal girl, Kousei thought with the same swell of love he felt upon being with her every single day. Emi was truly beautiful, so very different from Kaori Miyazono, but all the better for it. He wouldn't have it any other way.

His reverie was interrupted when he noticed Emi lean back slightly, and then cup her hands around her mouth. As if she was gearing herself up to shout something.

"I'M GOING TO MARRY KOUSEI ARIMA!"

The loudness of her voice made Kousei jump. Emi put her hands down, and turned to look at Kousei. He must have looked even more surprised than he felt, because she started to laugh, and laugh, and laugh. Despite his confusion, he chuckled slightly, and soon that turned into full-blown laughter. They laughed together for a few moments until Emi caught her breath.

"So, Kousei. Was that a good enough answer?" She demanded, regarding him seriously. Kousei smiled up at her.

"That, Emi Igawa, was the best answer ever." He climbed up to join her, and she moved over so he could sit next to her. Then he took the ring out of his pocket, put it on Emi's finger, and together they watched the rest of the sunset from the vantage point of the climbing frame.

**End of part 1! What do you think? Please leave some feedback, and hopefully the next part'll be up soon!**


	2. Part 2

Nagi knew what Kousei was going to say even before he said it. She'd heard the news twice already, second hand from both her brother and Koharu. Even so, she let Kousei share it. They were sitting in the café on a Sunday morning, meeting up for a drink and snacks and light conversation, as they did every so often.

"I'm going to be a father."

Kousei's eyes sparkled, and he looked excited. Like a little kid on his birthday. But Nagi knew her former teacher well enough to detect the nervousness at the edges of his joy. She exchanged a look with Akemi, another former student who had also become friends with Kousei.

Akemi grinned conspiratorially, then turned to Kousei.

"That's so _cool_! " she squealed. "When its due? Will it be a girl or a boy? Have you thought of names yet? What colour are you doing its room?" Nagi mentally face palmed at the younger girl's interrogation, but Kousei just laughed.

"It's too early to know whether we're having a boy or girl, Akemi-san." Kousei explained. "But if we end up having a daughter, we've agreed on the name Saki. "

"Aww, that's cute." Nagi said, almost without thinking. Then she paused, and added.

"That was your mother's name, right?"

Kousei nodded as he munched on a slice of nibbled on her sandwich and smiled, satisfied.

"Well, that makes the choice even cuter!" Akemi declared. Nagi grinned. That was true. If extremely soppy and clichéd. But what else did she expect from her favourite teacher?

They talked for a while longer, discussing possible boys' names, as neither Kousei nor Emi had thought of any, and they also discussed colours that a baby would like. Then the conversation turned around full circle.

"Truthfully, all that I want is for Emi and the baby to be safe." The statement was loaded with so much history that the atmosphere surrounding the three of them darkened.

"Hey, sensei, I would have thought you'd be hovering around Mrs Arima like, all the time." Akemi said eventually, trying to lighten the atmosphere up. Kousei smiled sheepishly.

"Well, Emi actually ordered me to leave her alone today. She's visiting her parents." Kousei scratched at his head absently. "Apparently I'm overprotective."

"_Ahh_, sensei's too cute, right, Nagi-san?" Akemi cooed. Nagi shrugged. It did sound just like him, to be overprotective of what he had. It was only to be expected. Still, she was damned if she was going to let Kousei worry too much.

"You should write a song, sensei."

"I…what?"

"A song. For your child. We're musicians, aren't we?"

She clearly didn't need to explain anymore because the clouds seemed to disappear from around Kousei, and the atmosphere lightened. He beamed.

"Actually, I think I could do that. That's a great idea, Nagi-san. Like your brother says- we express everything in music."

**…**

"Her name's Saki. But to avoid confusion we call her Kiko, sometimes."

Hiroko felt a strange sense of Deja-vu in coming to visit Kousei for the first time after his daughter was born. The baby in Emi's arms even looked uncannily like Kousei did when he was a baby, all those years ago. _Saki_. It felt like they were coming full circle, in a way. It made the name fitting.

Even the fact that they were standing in the piano room made the whole situation echo the one from so long ago. The difference was that where Kousei's father had been conspicuously absent, Kousei was in the room, playing the piano, but looking at them and smiling.

Hiroko tilted her head and listened to what Kousei was playing. It was an original piece, one Kousei had composed himself. _Second Chances_, she thought it was called. A song written especially for his daughter. It was a lovely piece, hopeful and yet melancholy. A perfect gift, if she did say so herself.

"Do you want to hold her?" Emi inquired as she rocked the infant gently. Hiroko considered, and then agreed. Hesitantly but deftly, Emi handed baby Saki over to her. It took her a moment, but she managed to remember how best to hold a baby. It had been so long. Hiroko's own daughter was fifteen now.

_Time goes by so fast_, she mused. She registered Kousei finish playing and come to stand next to Emi, wrapping his arms around her lovingly.

"She's lovely." Hiroko said sincerely. "You must be proud."

"How could we not be proud?" Kousei asked. Emi made a quiet noise of agreement as Hiroko looked down at the baby's sleeping face.

"Say," she asked, looking back at Kousei and Emi, "Are you going to train her to be a pianist?"

_Now, with my own words, I am repeating history. I only hope that the same mistakes aren't made this time around. They clearly love little Saki already, but Saki loved Kousei, too. Yet mistakes were still made. _

"Only if she wants to learn." Emi stated simply.

"I think I'd like her to appreciate music, though. To understand how it connects us all. I don't really care what kind of music, though. As long as she gets it." Kousei reasoned.

"I think she will. She's got two pianists for parents, and yet more pianists as extended 'family'." Hiroko pointed out as she handed Saki back to Emi.

"Yeah, the piano's inescapable. But since we're both pianists already, life will probably be more interesting if she ended up learning another instrument." Emi laughed, and Kousei did too.

Hiroko smiled, satisfied.

_This child _will_ be happy. I'm sure we'll all make that happen._

**…**

It surprised nobody to see that Saki 'Kiko' Arima grew up to be a musical child. She was able to hum renditions of Chopin songs before she memorised nursery rhymes. Just like Kousei did, she often fell asleep under the piano, regardless of which parent was playing. She clearly had an attachment to the piano, but before she had turned five, she decided it was the violin that she wanted to play. So, with the help of Kaori Miyazono's parents (although Saki only knew them as the nice coffee shop owners who gave her sweets), Kousei and Emi found her a good teacher, and she took lessons. She picked it up quickly, and was soon winning competition after competition.

But Saki's childhood was not all musical. She had many friends in school, and spent lots of time with them. As they didn't live too far from Takeshi and his wife, Kiyoko Miyake, she often played with their eldest pair of twins-Tatsumi and Yoshimi- who were two years younger than her. Whenever Kousei took her to visit Tsubaki and Tadashi in Tokyo, she played baseball with their sons, Hideo and Yuusei, who were three and one years older than her, respectively. She didn't really like sports, but she learnt baseball just so that she could play with them. As Watari lived in London, he didn't see Saki all that often, but as far as he was concerned, she was his favourite 'niece' and they had a lot of fun whenever he did manage to come to visit. She attended Koharu's ballet recitals, and in return Koharu would babysit her or take her to the movies. From spending time with Kashiwagi in her office, Kiko also gained a love for reading, and when she wasn't playing the violin, she was happy to while away her time with a good book or ten.

In the year she was supposed to start fourth grade, a request came for both Kousei and Emi to attend an around-the-world concert with an orchestra. With both being prominent figures in the classical musical world-Emi as a renowned concert pianist, and Kousei as a respected teacher and a budding composer, and then collectively as performers-both their presences were sought after. But because of Saki, they had never gone overseas together before. It had always been one or the other, so that Saki wasn't alone. They thought about leaving Saki with Emi's parents, or with Takeshi and Kiyoko, but when she first found about the tour, she wanted to come with them. And after much pleading and pestering, they gave in.

Emi got enough work from Saki's school, and Kousei went to buy new storybooks that she could read to pass time, and when all the other children her age started fourth grade, she began a long trip around the world with her parents and other musicians of renown.

As the only child in the company, she often had to hide in a corner backstage and do her schoolwork, or read. But she also got to sit in the audience in her own special seat and watch Kousei and Emi play. Whenever they had the time, they would take her out to see the sights of wherever they happened to be, and generally spend quality time together. She also had an opportunity to extend her tastes in music, as she mingled with other musicians who played so many other instruments. The influence they had on her was enormous- not only did she pick up violin playing tips, she also decided that she wanted to learn to play the harp, as well, much to Kousei and Emi's amusement. But she was serious, and eventually Kousei set about arranging lessons that Saki could begin when they returned to Japan.

**…**

Ryouta Watari hummed an inane pop tune as he walked down the streets of the town he had grown up in. It would be the New Year in a few days, and he was happy to be back in Japan. He had visited about eight months before, but this time around was special, because Kousei was back from his concert. When the tour had stopped in London, Watari hadn't been able to make it to see the Arimas, and so he was looking forward to being able to see his best friend and his favourite niece in the entire world. He couldn't wait to see what funny things Saki would have to tell him. That, and it would be nice to catch up with both Kousei and Emi.

It took him a moment to realise that his phone was ringing. Assuming it was Kousei, he pulled it out of his pocket and answered without looking at the display.

"Oh, you answered." It wasn't Kousei. The speaker was an adult female, but definitely not Emi, or Tsubaki, or Kashiwagi. The only other females he had ever given his number to were women who were now ex-girlfriends. He wouldn't have been blamed for forgetting any of their names, but he recognised this woman for two reasons. First, they had met (and broken up) the last time he had been in Japan. And secondly, he wasn't the type of guy to forget a name just because a relationship had ended.

"Oh, Shizuku-Chan! It's be-" he tried to be friendly and cordial, but Shizuku cut him off.

"I have something important to tell you. In person." Shizuku sounded curt, and angry.

"Is it important?"

"Yes." Watari sighed. This was something he hadn't been expecting.

"Okay. There's a seafood restaurant near your old high-school. How about we meet there?"

"Fine."

When he saw Shizuku in person, it became incredibly clear why she had asked to meet. She was heavily pregnant, and none too happy about that. Doing the maths in his head, he worked out that unless there was something he didn't know, the baby was definitely his. So he didn't bother to ask her that. Instead, he asked more useful questions.

"When's the due date?"

"February sometime. Next month. " Shizuku said, looking at him with a mixture of contempt and superiority.

"How come you didn't tell me earlier? Presumably you're planning on keeping it?"

"Why would I do that?"

Watari blinked.

"Do what?"

"Keep it, and consult you."

"But you called me here today…anyway, if you don't want it, why didn't you abort it when you could have?"

Shizuku's face twisted into a smile. But unlike the sweet smile that had made Watari hook up with her back then (even if only for a week), this smile was twisted.

"Oh, you guys are all the same!" she said, condescendingly. Watari breathed in and out a few times, making sure to not lose his cool. Then, somehow, he managed to steer the odd, disjointed conversation to get the answers he needed. But he didn't really understand it. If Shizuku had contacted him earlier, he would have done something. He wouldn't have forced her into any decisions, at all, and he would be willing to be involved in his child's life to whatever extent he had to. But he couldn't comprehend why Shizuku would want to keep it a secret, carry the child to term, only to give it up for adoption once it was born, just to taunt him with the fact. It just wasn't right.

So he made a decision that would probably change his entire life as it had been now. He decided that he would take care of the child- he would bring him or her back to Britain and bring the child up as a single father. Up until that moment, he had thought that fatherhood was just something he'd never experience, but he felt he was willing to try, if only to prevent the little one from becoming more of a victim to Shizuku's mind games than it already had. Playboy he might be, but he had standards, and morals, and he wasn't about to shirk any responsibilities. That just wasn't who he was.

_But still, _he thought as he left to go to Kousei's, _I'm not sure how this is going to work…_

**…**

Perhaps if his daughter had been born on any other day in February, he would have given her a different name, and then simply have taken her back home after he'd got past the bureaucratic red tape. And perhaps that would have been all there was to it.

But she was born on February the eighteenth, and the significance of that day didn't escape Watari. After all, he still had that photograph from back when they were both fourteen on his phone. How happy they had been then. How clueless of what was to come. But that wasn't right, not really. He had been the clueless one. Kaori Miyazono had known exactly what was coming-but somehow; she managed to smile, right up until the end. And it had been Kousei she'd dreamed of, not him. While he didn't bear a grudge towards either of them for that, what hurt was the assumption was that this would mean he'd forget all about her. He hadn't. He didn't think he would ever be able to. And so, he named his little daughter Kaori.

Since Shizuku stuck to her guns and disappeared as soon as she could after Kaori was born, Watari spent the next eight months staying with Kousei and Emi, figuring out how to take care of a baby while managing all the things he needed to do to be able to bring her back to London, so that he could bring her up, which he was able to do soon after Kaori turned eight months old.

The day before that, however, he made a visit to the 'first' Kaori's grave, bringing flowers and his daughter with him.

"Hey, Kaori-Chan. It's been a long time, hasn't it? Anyway, I want you to meet someone. "he paused to take Kaori out of her stroller and carried her in his arms so that she could see the gravestone. The baby reached out, batting at the bouquets of flowers lying in front of it.

"This is my daughter. Her name is Kaori. I wonder, do you know anyone else with that name?" he laughed at his own bad joke, imagining that the girl lying under the gravestone would have laughed, too. His daughter giggled too for a moment, before turning her attention back to the bright flowers.

"Anyway…I guess what I wanted to say is that you're still missed. I still think about you- I haven't forgotten you. I know you didn't expect that, but unexpected things happen to all of us- I mean, look at me! I'm a single dad now, and loving it. So, you might not have meant to affect many lives, but you did. But I'm not angry, not at all. Fourteen was a long time ago, and I'm not one to hold a grudge. You're forgiven, even though there was nothing to forgive. So, this will be the last time I visit you. But know this-I haven't forgotten you yet, and I won't forget you."

**…**

Kaori hated being right all the time. Or at least, that's what she told herself as she sat on the sofa in her living room, listening to what her father was telling her.

_It was only a precaution. I only said he should go to the doctor as a precaution. And I didn't think that 'bad' meant incurable. Or terminal. Or both. It was only meant to be a precaution. Only a precaution, only a precaution, only a precaution. Nothing was meant to ACTUALLY HAPPEN!_

"I…Kaori." Her father's face looked pained. "I'm sorry." Kaori looked up at her father, looking into the eyes that were just like her own. Eyes that looked so, so sad. Suddenly, she welled up, and flew across the sofa to hug him.

"Don't leave me, Papa, please don't!" She cried, reverting back to speaking in Japanese, although she rarely did that in England, unless she was on the phone to her friends and 'family'.

Her father hugged her back, and they stayed like that for a long time until finally, her tears dried up and she wriggled away so that she could hide in her room and process the fact that by the time she turned fifteen, she would be parentless.

**…**

Somehow, Kaori Watari managed to keep afloat in the year it took for her father to die. He had insisted that she lead as normal a life as she could, so she still went to school, did her homework, practised with the band she was a member of and socialised. She also had packing to do, because once it was all over, she would be going to live in Japan with the Arima family. Or, more specifically, Kousei and Emi Arima, because their daughter Saki (who happened to be her hero) was almost a decade older and therefore living in her own home with her new husband. It would be a big change She wasn't scared about going to Japan- she had practically grown up navigating between two cultures and languages, and it came naturally to her- but she was scared about what it meant. The day she went to Japan permanently would mark the start of a life without the father she loved more than any other person in the world. So, all too often, she would pass up a social invitation, or avoid homework in favour of sitting with her father, watching TV or reading a book with him, or even sometimes playing the flute for him. She was always terrified that each time would be the last, and so she made sure there were many times where it was just the two of them. As a consequence, all her friends, save for her fellow band members, eventually drifted away, although she barely registered it until later.

So she was grateful when the Arimas came to London to help her with the adjustment. When it all got too much, when she couldn't nod and smile at one of her father's many friends that he'd made as a result of being on the football team any longer, Saki would remove her from the situation and they'd go for long walks, or they'd get ice-cream, regardless of the weather. Meanwhile, Kousei and Emi Arima took over the responsibilities Kaori had taken upon herself and did what they could (when she thanked them for the nth time, Kousei told her that he had learnt the hard way that pain should be borne alone). Saki also met the members of the band Kaori was part of, and, having grown up in a musical family, gave them all much appreciated advice.

But she was even more grateful when all six of Takeshi Aiza and Kiyoko Miyake's children came with their mother. Being only half a year younger than the middle set of twins –Ryuunosuke and Ryouko- she was friendly with all of them, and Ryuunosuke and Ryouko were the only friends she rated as being closer to her than her fellow band members, despite seeing them less often. Ryouko would often walk with her to school, and Ryuunosuke would wait for her after school, or even later if there was band practise. Both would send her text-message updates on her father throughout the day, and they were able to distract her in a way that no-one else she knew was able to do.

But despite that, she could not stop herself from bawling her heart out in the rare moments she was alone.

**…**

"Kousei?" Emi stood at the door of the music room, watching her husband look through all their shelves of sheet music with a strange but steely determination. The scene in itself wasn't odd, but as it was nearly midnight, she was somewhat concerned. It had been a long time since Kousei had been in such a frenzy he'd forgotten to sleep. But perhaps the pain had been too much to bear. In the last seven years, her parents, his father, Hiroko, two of his former students and his best friend Watari had all passed away for various reasons.

"Kousei, it's late." She tried again. He turned to look at her, his eyes wide and glistening.

"I just need a moment." He said, turning back to continue his search. Emi sighed as she came into the room and sat on the piano bench, watching Kousei. At least Watari's girl wasn't at home. Saki's husband was on a business trip, and so she had decided to have Kaori over for a sleepover.

He hummed as he searched, and Emi thought she recognised the tune. She tilted her head slightly, trying to catch the entire tune, trying to remember it. Then, Kousei paused as he pulled a slim booklet out from between other booklets of sheet music. He handed it to her.

_Cherry Blossom Ghosts. _She looked at the title, at the musical score carefully written in Kousei's familiar hand. It was one of his pieces, but not one he'd released to the world. Then, she remembered. How during their third year at high school, Kousei had written one piece for their assignment, but had then changed his mind, putting it away and writing another to submit. This must be the one he had hidden away.

"You're going to release it. " she said. It wasn't a question.

"I think I'll edit it, first. It's been a long time, after all. And it was my first foray into composing. It must be so raw."

Raw. Emi couldn't help but feel that no matter how much more expert, or sophisticated Kousei became, he would always be raw. But there was no point telling him that. This was a piece that hadn't anything to do with her.

"But it's late for that now. Work on it in the morning. Come to bed now, okay?" she put the sheets on top of the piano and got up, leaving the room and going to their bedroom. Soon after, she heard Kousei following, and she smiled to herself. Perhaps he would be okay.

When they got into bed, they rolled over so that they were facing each other. Kousei looked at her, his eyes seeming even wider without his glasses. Then, his hand reached out to cover hers.

"Emi," he whispered, even though he didn't need to "I'm scared."

"What of?" she had a sneaking suspicion she knew anyway, because she couldn't think of any other reason why Kousei would dig up a piece he had kept secret. She gripped his hand in return.

"Ori-Chan's barely touched her flute since she moved in with us. She seems happy, but I don't know if that's just a ruse. "He had a point, given that the girl had been with them for six months now, but he wasn't just worried about her simple happiness. Between the lines, he was saying: _What if she becomes like me, like how I was before? How do I prevent music from hurting her? What should I do so I don't fail her? Will history repeat itself?_

"What else?" Emi probed. She knew Kousei well, to know that his worries were never single layered. She felt Kousei's hand shake, and watched as his eyes gleamed and then welled up.

"I wonder…I wonder if out of everyone I know and love, I'll be the last to die. If everyone I treasure wi-"Emi didn't let him finish the sentence as she let go of his hand so that she could pull him close to her. She felt tears leak out of her own eyes.

"Stupid!" she hissed through gritted teeth. "Stupid!" she repeated.

"Emi…"

"I will NOT let you die before me. Or Kiko. Okay? It's an impossible promise, but I am making it, okay? So don't forget that."

_It means that you'll leave _me_ behind, but I'm promising you this anyway._

They fell asleep tangled in promises and each other's embrace, with the melody of a long-forgotten piece of music haunting both their dreams.

**…**

It had been a year and half since her father had died of cancer. Slightly less than that since she has started living as a Japanese high-school student, somehow muddling through the days and getting by. She was happy, most of the time, but everything felt blurry, and dull. She'd experience something new and wait excitedly to tell her father about it, only to remember that he was dead. And so everything became numb again. An endless cycle. But time had passed, and she knew she didn't want to feel like this forever. She wanted to really be alive, to better appreciate how she still had people around her who loved her just as much, but in different ways.

So today, on this fine April afternoon, she set off to do something she had been meaning to do for a while. So instead of walking with Ryuunosuke, Ryouko and some of their other friends as she usually did after school, she walked in the opposite direction, by herself, comparing the building fronts with the address that was scrawled on the scrap of paper she was holding.

The cherry blossoms swirled around her in the spring breeze, but she didn't pay much attention to them. Much as they were pretty, she had always preferred the apple blossoms that had grown near her primary school back in the United Kingdom. That, and now was not the time to be admiring flowers.

Ignoring the flowers, she stopped in front of yet another coffee shop, and compared the name with what was written on her paper-_Patisserie Ueno_. This time, it was a match. She took one last look at the paper, memorised the names on there, and then with a deep breath, stuffed the paper in her pocket and opened the door.

The bell rang, but didn't attract much attention, as there didn't seem to be many customers in there. Nobody was behind the counter, but she figured she could wait. Instead, she took in the surroundings. The cleanliness, the bright decorations. The array of sweets and cakes the shop sold. The piano in the corner, and the newspaper cuttings hung on the wall above it. The newspaper cuttings intrigued her, and she stepped forward to take a look when an old couple came out of the back. The owners. She was taken aback by just how old they looked. How sad. Then she remembered what she knew about them, and wondered if at sixteen she looked the same.

"I…..excuse me? Are you Mr and Mrs Miyazono? Sosuke and Yoriko Miyazono?" she asked, sounding more hesitant that she wanted too. Nervously, she tucked a lock of her reddish-black hair behind her ear.

"That's right." The man said, warily. "I'm Sosuke Miyazono, and this is my wife. We own this place. Who's asking?"

_What's worse? Losing a parent while still a child, or losing a child when that child is still young? _It was a hard question, but part of why she had come here today. So, she had to follow through.

"My name's Kaori Watari. I was named after your daughter…" she barely had time to explain before she was enveloped with hugs, questions and free sweets. And as she got to know this lonely couple who had lost _their_ Kaori, and as Sosuke and Yoriko got to know the Kaori whose father had been stolen by cancer and whose mother didn't even want to know she existed, they all began to heal, and even though they didn't explicitly acknowledge it, something changed in all of them over the course of those hours.

It was late when Kaori got home, but all the same, the first thing she did was go to her room, put her bag down, and find her flute. Then, she took the flute downstairs to the music room. Unsurprisingly, Emi was at the piano, but she stopped when she saw Kaori with the flute, and waited as Kaori stood in the middle of the room and steeled herself. Then, as Kousei appeared at the door, Kaori lifted the flute to her lips and played for the first time since her father's funeral.

**…**

Time went by. Kaori did well in high-school, playing in her school orchestra and developing a passion for History, which she decided she wanted to study in university. She dated Ryuunosuke Aiza-Miyake for a while, but the relationship didn't work out, and they remained platonic friends. The band she had formed with her friends in Britain had disbanded, but they still kept in touch, and they visited each other regularly. To Kaori's surprise, they even decided to join her for her own Coming of Age, despite it having nothing to do with them from a cultural perspective. She also kept up her friendship with her namesake's parents, to the point that they asked her to take over their coffee shop when they passed away. She agreed readily.

None of the Aiza-Miyake siblings were musically inclined, but they all managed to do well for themselves, going on to study for careers that ranged from lawyer to wedding planner, and all of them married and started families of their own. Proving that twins seemed to run in the family, three of the siblings had twin children of their own. Takeshi would often complain about just how noisy a full-family reunion ended up being, but everyone knew he didn't mind. Kiyoko often remarked that Takeshi often contributed to that noise, and he would retort that he was perfectly entitled to, as most of his noise was technically practise for all the performances he still did.

Kousei and Emi also remained strong forces in the music world. He continued to release musical pieces that were well received, earning enough money for him to retire in the next life as well as this one, if such a thing was possible, but he continued to teach. He also performed, but not as much as Emi, who performed often, and sometimes side-by-side with Saki, who played both violin and harp, but leant more towards the harp. Saki's eldest child, a boy called Hiro, followed in his mother's footsteps to an extent and learnt the violin, and occasionally concerts would be graced with a special appearance of grandparent, mother and child, all performing together. A true sense of continuity, one music judge called it when making a glowing review.

Kashiwagi remained childless by choice, the closest contact she had to children being the time she spent around the descendants of her close friends. She instead divided most of her time running an advice column for a number of popular teenage magazines and travelling the world. Some, including Tsubaki, wondered if Kashiwagi was on a mission to visit every country in the world before she died, but she refused to answer that question. Her sister Mio was almost the same, in that she edited magazines and had chosen not to marry and have children of her own, but she differed in that she opened her home to foster children, and her house never had any less than three children living there at any one time.

Koharu had expanded from ballet to theatre in general, and made a name for herself very quickly, to the point she even opened her own theatre, which she named after her mother. She also had a relatively large theatrical troupe that created successful plays about all kinds of topics, particularly ones that concerned young people. All of these plays had live music, and any piano tracks were played by none other than Nagi Aiza, whose relationship with Koharu was very similar to Saki Arima's sister/idol bond with Kaori Watari.

**…**

When Kousei Arima died at age 65, the musical world mourned. But so did his family, and friends and anyone else who had ever loved him. So, because he had been part of both worlds, Emi and Saki Arima decided not to have a conventional funeral. Instead, they held an 'All-Arima concert' a year after his death, where all his pieces would be played, including 'Cherry Blossom Ghosts' which he had just finished editing before his death. The concert would also be a platform to open the foundation Kousei had organised- an organisation that would help fund young musicians who fought against the odds to become better at what they did, as well as those who were innovative and fresh in the field of whatever instrument they played. The funding would occur in the form of special prizes at important competitions, and scholarships into prestigious music schools. This foundation was called 'The Kaori Miyazono Trust', and everyone who had been close to Kousei knew what an appropriate name this was.

It was hosted in the Hiroko Seto Theatre. The pieces were performed by Emi, Saki and Hiro, with Nagi's assistance for those pieces that were piano duets. Takeshi Aiza- who had remained both friend and rival with Kousei throughout his life- volunteered to host. Even though he didn't say, the task assuaged the loneliness he had felt upon becoming a widower two years before. Saki's youngest children sat in the audience with their stepfather and everyone else who had known Kousei. Including Tsubaki.

As she listened to the music and watched Takeshi gesticulate wildly as he explained each piece, she found herself recalling all sorts of memories and feeling all sorts of feelings. As she looked from the stage to the audience, filled with so many people she didn't know (and yet did) she realised something that she had been gradually come to realise over the years.

_Music didn't take Kousei away. It didn't take anyone away. _

Through the music, she was recalling someone who had been precious to her, in the same way that the performers and the audience were. They were brought to tears and made to laugh together, and it had nothing to do with being psychic or telepathic or anything like that. It was the music, all connecting them. Her childish self had been wrong. Music hadn't taken anyone away. In the end, it had brought them all back together. And she only had to look next to her , at the husband she so dearly loved, and then to the other side, where her eldest son and his boyfriend sat, to know this was true.

When Saki, Hiro and Nagi exited the stage, Tsubaki knew that the new piece was about to be played, even before Takeshi announced it. But even so, she was blown away. This was a song of mourning, but also of joy.

_Smiling through tears. _She had a sudden image of Kousei smiling through tears, of Emi smiling through tears, of herself smiling through tears. The images shone in her mind, clearly. And then, suddenly, an old friend popped into her mind.

_Oh, hey, Kao-Chan. Look at this. Kousei's wife is up there, playing her last farewells to him. His daughter was playing just a few moments ago. She was on the harp, but she's a violinist too. Your namesake-Watari's kid- is sitting in the audience, over there with her own son and daughter. What do you make of all that? Are you happy with how things turned out?_

The girl in her mind grinned, flashed a peace sign and giggled. Then, she faded away with the music. And Tsubaki smiled, for she knew that Kaori Miyazono was happy with how things had turned out. Because she was too.

**End of part 2.**

**I thought it would be amusing for Takeshi to have three sets of twins. The character I made into his wife was that pretty girl with the dark hair and glasses who was sitting next to him during Nagi's performance in the anime, and then in the audience the episode after when he played the Revolutionary Etude. She wasn't given a name in the anime, so I called her Kiyoko Miyake because why not. **

**I also felt it more fitting that Watari would name his daughter Kaori, rather than Kousei doing so. I don't know why. **

**In any case, I hope you enjoyed this part . For various real life reasons, the final part is going to take longer for me to write, so do bear with me. In the meantime, please leave feedback! And if you want anything cleared up (as things can get messy when shifting focus into the later generations) feel free to add those questions to your feedback too :) :) **


	3. Part 3

**EDIT 12/4/15: seems I posted the first chapter up by accident. No idea how. Here's the proper part three...**

**Review Reply to Guest (Chapter 1) So sorry for not posting this link in the previous part, but here it is now: . /post/112533936155/we-all-know-kousei-and-kaori-wouldnt-spend-their  
Obviously, replace the things in brackets with the actual symbols ^^**

**Review Reply to Guest (Chapter 2): Good to know you liked this! I'm aware that some of my ideas of how things would turn out might be odd to some, but good to know you are enjoying the fic! Thanks for the review.**

**Review Reply to kaosei: There are a lot of things I want to say in response, but that would make this author's note too long, so I will just say these two things: 1- I don't understand what you mean by a 'big name' and 2- Saki is the name of Kousei's mother, and I have explicitly mentioned this in the chapter. So it's not as if the name came from nowhere.  
If you're still confused, post an ask to my tumblr page (link on my profile) and I can give you a fuller explanation to my reasoning there. **

**Anyway, general notes! This is the final part. I was originally going to focus on two later generations, but much like the entire fic sprouted from one-shot into three-parter, the story of one of the generations just got too big to the point the other felt a bit unnecessary. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this final part, and do leave feedback!**

Youichi was not happy.

"What do you mean, Satoru wants you to come?" Youichi glared at his friend as they stood in the park after school. Aki looked sheepish and fiddled with his backpack. They had been walking home from school, and had decided to cut through the park to get sweets with their weekly pocket money when Aki had asked Youichi for a favour that annoyed him.

"Mum and Dad are working, and it's his first performance….look, please. I'll never hear the end of it. " Youichi rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Fine, fine! I get it, Aki. I'll come with you tomorrow to Satoru's piano recital."

**…**

Sitting in his seat next to Aki, waiting for the next performer to come on stage, Youichi had never been more bored. He wasn't sure of the point of playing songs by long dead people- especially since they were just so boring. The music sounded like old-people music, like funeral music or something along those lines, and he didn't get why anyone would like to hear music that sounded like what you'd hear when you died.

And then the next kid came on stage.

The girl was tinier than any of the other children, and looked even tinier as a result of her wavy dark blue hair, which was very, very long, and only half tied up in a light purple ribbon, which matched her dress and shoes. She stumbled across the stage in a way that was very different to the too-serious walks the other children had done. Youichi stared, gripping his slushie cup tightly, leaning forward slightly to get a closer look. Then he heard some of the adults in the audience sigh and coo at how 'cute' she was and he remembered himself for a moment, but that all changed again when she finally got to the piano and started to play.

For the entirety of the song, Youichi was no longer sitting in a concert hall, holding a slushy. He was walking through a dream, soft lights and colours surrounding him. And weirdly, when he looked up, he could see the stars. It was…pretty and he had always thought pretty things were soppy and girly. Not this time. This prettiness seemed like…a place he wanted to be, more than anything else. It made him feel happy, and warm on the inside. Nothing like dead-people music at all- in fact, he'd never felt more alive than he was while listening to that song.

_Why do I feel like this?_ He wondered. _Where are all these pictures and feelings coming from?_

When the piece finished, he was shocked to realise that there were tears forming at the edges of his eyes. Discreetly, he wiped them away. He didn't want Aki to tease him, after all.

**…**

When the recital finally ended (the rest had been boring, because nobody else had played like the girl), he could barely contain himself as he waited for Aki to get Satoru so that they could all go home, and as soon as he had separated ways with them, he ran as fast as he could to tell his parents that he wanted to be a pianist.

But they didn't think he was being serious, and instead laughed and explained how music wasn't 'a real job' and that he was better off sticking to his previous ambition of running an ice-cream parlour. He felt like explaining he didn't want to be a pianist as a job, he just wanted to learn how to play in such a way that someone could be taken to a whole new world. But their laughter annoyed him, and so he defied them, silently. He looked up videos of pianists on the internet, read books in the library, and made notes which he kept in his secret space under his bed. He tested his memory on all the different aspects of music, in the same way he learnt new spelling words. But he said nothing of this to anyone. Not to Aki, or Aki's family, or to any of his friends or teachers, and definitely not his parents. He kept it all secret, even though he wasn't completely sure why he needed to.

Soon, Youichi was able to visualise everything he needed to do before he could play any of the many pieces he'd memorised. The only problem was, he had nowhere to really practise. He wasn't able to find the time to sneak to the music room in school, and he could hardly ask his parents for a piano. He supposed he could have asked Aki if he could practise on Satoru's piano, but that would have meant telling them about how he had changed, and he wasn't about to do that. In any case, as March approached Aki told him that his family would be moving overseas, so he wouldn't have been able to, even if he did come clean.

**…**

One lunchtime in the May of fourth grade, when his other friends were all off for some reason or another, Youichi decided to try and use the school's music room. And like a dream entering the waking world, the girl he had seen almost a year ago was sitting at the piano, playing a Chopin piece he had come to appreciate. She was slightly taller, and her hair was longer, but she looked much the same. But now he was seeing her from a much shorter distance, he saw how her eyes were a chocolate brown colour.

Those eyes widened in surprise as they took him in. He wondered what the kid was thinking.

"You've come to practise? Nobody comes to practise here, ever!" Her voice was pitched lower than he'd expect, and it took him by surprise, as if he hadn't been stunned enough by her presence.

"I…erm…actually, I just want to try the piano."

The little girl frowned.

"What do you mean, try?" she queried. "Haven't you played before?"

Youichi glared, not liking the insinuation. She was just a little kid, she had no idea about anything. He reached into his bag and pulled out the folder in which he kept all his precious, secret notes.

"I've been trying to learn! But I don't have a piano, so I can't!" _Now someone else knows my secret. Oh, fun!_

"You want to be a pianist?" she asked. Youichi nodded as the girl regarded him with a long look. After a long, long look, she smiled. In fact, she beamed, and looked overjoyed for reasons Youichi could not even guess at.

"Okay." She got off the bench, and stood by it. He walked to it, and then realised that he didn't know her name, or why she was in his school. He hadn't seen her around before, and he thought that he would have.

"Wait, do you go to this school?"

"I'm in the first grade!" the girl said, as if she was surprised he didn't know, "My name's Yumiko Aiza-Miyake. What's yours? You're a sempai, right?"

"Youichi Uemura. Fourth grade. Don't bother with the sempai stuff."

"Oh, okay! Then you can call me Yumiko. 'Aiza-Miyake' is too long anyways." Unexpectedly, Yumiko giggled. Youichi found himself smiling at the sound, even as he sat and stared at the keys of the piano. Now he was confronted with an actual piano, his dream seemed like an impossible one.

He rested his hands on the notes, and tried to remember all the things he had spent ages and ages looking up. Then, he began to play the same piece that Yumiko had been playing when he'd unexpectedly interrupted, mostly because he couldn't think of anything else in that moment, but also because for some reason he thought it was fitting.

When he finished (or rather, trailed off), he turned to Yumiko, waiting to see what she thought. She seemed to like it, because she was grinning, looking even more ecstatic than she had when he'd told her he wanted to learn the piano.

"Do you have a teacher, se-ah,Uemura-kun?"

"Gee, what do you think?" Yumiko's smile faded for a moment, but then she seemed to brighten up again, and she stuck her finger up in the air, as if she was telling him to wait.

"I have a lesson today. Come with me, kay?"

"Uhhh…."

"You said you don't have a teacher, so share mine! Nakahara-sensei's really nice, really, really, really nice. I'm sure he'll say yes."

Youichi blinked at that, but he thought it might be a good idea. The only problem was if the teacher said he had to ask his parents. That, and he wasn't sure how he felt about sharing a teacher with this overly cheerful little kid. Who, as it turned out, wasn't as annoying as most little kids, but still.

_But this is a chance, silly! You could learn properly, on an actual piano! _

"Okay, fine. Should we meet after school?"

"Hmmm….school gates? Is that a good place? I don't think you'd want me to come to your class."

Yumiko was right, but he didn't want to say that. It didn't seem right. So instead, he told her that he was fine, and spent the rest of the lunchtime watching her play on the piano. Bringing music to life, the way she had the first time he'd seen her.

And three hours later, he was sitting at a piano for the second time in his life, playing like his life depended on it. But this time, he was aware of his mistakes, cringing as he stumbled through the piece. Yet somehow, eventually, he finished, and he waited for the teacher to tell him that he wasn't good enough.

"So, you've been trying to learn to play the piano, but without a piano?" the teacher-an old man who was only slightly scary- asked, instead.

"Y-yeah." Youichi blinked, not sure what to do now there was no criticism.

"I see. That suggests to me that you really want to learn."

"Yes-eh, uhm…" Youichi struggled to remember the teacher's name, then remembered "Nakahara-sensei. Yes, Nakahara-sensei."

Nakahara simply nodded, then looked towards Yumiko, who was sitting on a settee in the corner of the room, staring at them the way Youichi normally watched exciting movies. When they had arrived at Nakahara's house, Yumiko had pelted the teacher with a passionate and enthusiastic plea to 'teach Uemura-kun, PLEASE', telling him about their lunchtime encounter in a way that made Youichi cringe. Nakahara didn't seemed too pleased at the intrusion, but clearly thought Yumiko was a good kid or something, because he had agreed, on the condition that he played. Which he had.

_Maybe Yumiko's idea was a good one. For a first grader. _

"Why, may I ask, do you want to play so badly?" Nakahara queried. Youichi considered his answer carefully. Yumiko was in the room, so it would have been embarrassing to say that it was because he had seen her, specifically. It would have been generally embarrassing anyway, so he decided to give half an answer.

"I used to think music like this was dead, and boring, and not nearly as fun as making ice-cream. But one day I heard someone play music in a way that was really, really cool! It was like I was in some whole other universe, or something. And I figured that I could try and do that too, so I can take myself back to that place. And maybe someone else, too."

Nakahara had smiled when Youichi had mentioned ice-cream, and that smile hadn't left his face. He nodded in approval when his explanation had ended, but that didn't prevent the question he had been dreading.

"Do your parents know, about how much you wish to play?" Nakahara asked very seriously.

Youichi reddened, and looked down at the floor. He suddenly felt ashamed of how much he had hidden his new passion from everyone. He knew it was wrong, and he didn't dare to look at either Yumiko or his potential teacher.

Nakahara sighed.

"I see." He paused, and then continued "For the time being, you may share lessons with Yumiko, even though you do have a lot of catching up to do. You are good for someone who has barely touched a piano before, but you're nowhere near the level of most pianists in your age group, or even in Yumiko's. I'll make sure you're up to that level at the very least. But, we need to be clear on something."

Youichi looked up at that, wondering what Nakahara was going to tell him to remember.

"No more dishonesty. Being a pianist becomes part of the blood, and you cannot hide that. So, promise me this, Youichi-kun. No. More. Secrecy."

Youichi mouth dropped open. He was really getting a teacher. He couldn't believe it. When he looked over at Yumiko, she was just as surprised, but she also seemed proud.

"I promise, Nakahara-sensei!"

**…**

Youichi kept his promise. As soon as he got home on that day, he told his parents that he wanted to play the piano. And he didn't back down. It didn't take them long to realise that he was serious, and after going to talk to Nakahara, they paid for him to have some lessons of his own, so he didn't need to share them all with Yumiko. They also bought a piano for him, albeit a second-hand one. But it was enough for him, and being able to practise at home soon paid off. But his newfound honesty didn't stop at his parents. He also told his friends, and was no longer shy about using the music room at lunchtimes to play for a while. Indeed, some of his friends would come to watch, which made him pleased. He also had an occasional audience at the Weaving Fragrance Café, owned by Yumiko's parents, for they had a piano in the actual café area, there for customers to play on as they pleased. Yumiko and Youichi would even duet together from time to time.

He also began to think of Yumiko as a friend. The lessons and duets they continued to share did have something to do with that, but he found he enjoyed her company outside of those times, too, despite her being a girl three years younger than he. Although he didn't like nicknames, when Yumiko took to calling him 'Yocchan' he accepted it, and in return he called her 'Yumi'. They often walked home and to lessons together, and he soon found out that the reason for her odd walk was that she'd been born with one leg slightly shorter than the other. It was barely noticeable to him, but it required lots of operations to correct it, so he also visited her whenever she had a stay in hospital. When he discovered that her favourite things (apart from piano music) were bluebells, chocolate and cats, his father helped him spend the better part of a weekend trying to figure out an ice-cream recipe that would result in chocolate ice-cream that was bluebell coloured, and then took it in a cat-face shaped bowl to give to her in hospital. In return, she got her father to make caneles like the ones sold in the café she lived above and give them to him for free.

But to her credit, she didn't really let her leg interfere with her life. When she wasn't using crutches or in hospital, she would run with him and climb up the jungle gym with no fear, and she didn't seem intimidated by his friends-at least, the ones who had stayed with him. A few friends had distanced from him, claiming he was a 'loli-con', but he didn't really care. The friends he did have (including Yumiko) were his true ones, as far as he was concerned. The others didn't matter, although sometimes he wondered what he would have done if Aki, who had been his friend since before kindergarten, had been one of those 'others'. But he had lost touch with Aki, and so he wouldn't ever know what he would have made of their friendship.

**…**

"Hey, Youichi, do you feel up to making some ice-cream today?" Youichi's father came out of the kitchen just as he came in through the front door. Youichi considered the offer. It was a warm day for September, and he didn't have all that much homework to do, but truth be told, he jumped at any opportunity to make ice-cream. So he agreed, and as soon as he had changed into home clothes and put his school things away, he helped his dad drag out the large ice-cream stirrer from the kitchen and assemble it, before scouting the kitchen for ingredients.

"What flavour should we make today, Dad?" he asked, examining the shelves of flavourings.

"Well, given that I have a day off and your mother's working late, how about we choose one of her favourite flavours?"

"Like strawberries with honey? We could keep the honey for afterwards, mix it in when we're actually serving, rather than adding the honey at the beginning."

"You're the expert now, son!"

"Daaad. That's not true!" Youichi couldn't help but grin as he found the rest of the ingredients he needed and set them down on the counter. As soon as he was able to walk, his father had made him help out while he made ice-cream on sunny days, using recipes that had been passed from generation to generation. Eventually, Youichi had got the hang of it to such an extent that not only could he do the whole process alone, he had adapted the recipes to his own tastes. The bluebell coloured ice-cream was a good example of this. For the longest time, ice-cream making (and eating) had been his only enduring interest as he tried and discarded many other hobbies, none of them holding up to the standards in his mind. Until he had learnt the piano, that was. Now he had two things he enjoyed, and he was glad of it.

They worked silently for a while, going through the procedure that father and son were so comfortable doing, and it wasn't until Youichi had been turning the handle on the old ice-cream maker for a while that he decided to broach an important topic.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hmmm?"

"You know how I'll have to decide what high school I'll be going to soon."

"I'm aware. Have you got any preferences?"

"Well, Nakahara-sensei says that I have a good chance of getting into any of the nearest music-oriented schools. And truth be told…I think I want to try."

Youichi's father stopped to look at him.

"You want to go to a musically focussed school? Are you sure about that? As far as I can remember, you'd have to live in dorms if you got into any of them, and aren't they awfully competitive?"

"They are…but that's what I want to ask you. The Eastern Japan Piano Competitions, they're an important one to go for if you're applying to high-school. The schools tend to pick the best of the entrants to attend their schools. There's also this scholarship I could go for. The Kaori Miyazono Foundation. It supports young musicians, in particular those 'who show real innovation and flair' and also it helps those who struggle more than normal to become good musicians- you know, like if they have illnesses or they're really poor. Nakahara-sensei thinks that I could be eligible for the first category. But even if I only win the prize the foundation offers rather than one of the scholarships, then I still have a good chance of being accepted. So, would you let me try, at least? Please, Dad?"

Youichi only realised how much he had talked when he got to the end of his final sentence and found he was out of breath. He stopped turning the handle, and looked at his dad, who looked thoughtful.

"You're…really serious about the piano, huh?" He mused, half to himself. He picked up the box of strawberries, and put it down again. "I'm still having trouble believing it. You were always such a restless child."

Youichi waited patiently rather than protesting.

"I guess you're not that child anymore, huh? Play something for me, then."

"Eh? You hear me play all the time."

"Ahh, that's a bit impromptu, don't you think? Relax; I can hear you from here." Youichi's father laughed heartily. Youichi shrugged, and left his father to the ice-cream while he went to the living room, where his piano stood. He sat down, and then after a few moments, he decided to play the Arima piece 'Second Chances'. It was one of his favourites.

When he finished, he turned to see his father hovering at the door.

"That song was definitely written by a parent." His father said, simply. Youichi blinked.

"Erm…I think that the composer wrote it when his wife was expecting their child, but Yumi knows all the stories better than I do." He was a fan of the idea that when someone played a song, they became part of its story, and so the songs origins weren't the ultimate answer, so to speak. Yumiko, on the other hand, was deeply interested in the inspirations for all the songs they played.

"So, I was right. Anyway," Youichi's father cleared his throat. "Do what you must, in regards to high-school. Just make sure you tell your mother first, at least. "

"Sure. Thanks, Dad. Should we get back to the ice-cream now?"

"Yes, I think we should."

**…**

Youichi entered the Eastern Japan Music Competition, and somehow managed to make through all the rounds up until the final. He ended up fifth overall, but also won an award for 'Audience Favourite', as well as getting a scholarship from The Kaori Miyazono Foundation. He was accepted by a fairly good music school, and lived in dorms there, and got by just fine. Yumiko came to visit him a lot in the dorms, and sometimes, he would take her around the school building on illicit tours that he somehow never caught doing. Of course, he always went home to visit, particularly if Yumiko was in the hospital, although she'd been having less and less of those operations.

And as they grew, Youichi felt his feelings towards Yumiko grow and change. Or, rather, the maturity helped him to recognise them for what they were. As a nine-year-old, he had fallen in love with the six-year-old Yumiko on stage, and afterwards, when he met her and got to know her, he had fallen in love with the real girl, too. And he suspected that she felt similarly. She had often declared to both him and family members that what she really, really wanted to do was marry him, and while it was something that could easily be dismissed as childish ramblings before, it was less easy to do so as they grew older.  
But neither of them said anything. They didn't need to. Instead, they slowly edged closer towards their feelings. One holiday, while walking to the Wavering Fragrance Café, their hands brushed against each other, accidentally, but instead of springing apart, Yumiko took the opportunity to hold his hand, properly, and once he had gotten over the surprise, he gripped her hand back. Often, while watching movies on Youichi's laptop in his dorm room, the two of them would fall asleep together, Yumiko leaning on his shoulder, Youichi's arm loosely around her waist. They told each other their feelings whenever they played the piano for or with each other. The first time they kissed was on Yumiko's sixteenth birthday, soon after she had been accepted into the same high school Youichi had attended, when they were walking through the park at night. But for the most part, they kept the passionate side of their relationship private, not that their feelings weren't obvious to everyone who knew them. And that was perfectly fine by them.

On the day that Yumiko was due to graduate from high-school, Youichi only had lectures in the morning, and so he spent the day visiting various shops for what he needed, and then headed to the school, waiting patiently by the gates as he watched the other excited students stream out of the gates, clutching to their certificates in their scrolls and chatting excitedly. Yumiko was doing the same when he spotted her, but as soon as she spotted him she broke away from her little group and ran clumsily to him, her impossibly long hair flying out behind her

"Yocchan!" she stumbled to a stop, and grinned.

"Yumi." He said, simply. Yumiko laughed.

"Yocchan."

"Yumi."

"Yocchan."

It was an old joke of theirs, and they repeated it until neither could bear it and they both broke down into giggles. When they managed to calm down, they regarded each other. Then, Youichi held out his hand, expectantly. Yumiko's cheeks pinked, but then she stretched out her own hand and placed it in his. Their fingers locked, and they walked down the road, holding hands.

"So, Yumi." He began. "You've graduated now. What are you going to do with your life?" he grinned, indicating he was teasing. Yumiko beamed back.

"Silly Yocchan! You know what I want to do! I want to marry you!" her beam faltered, and she paused.

"Can I?" she asked. "I mean, may I?" Her eyes widened as she looked at him searchingly, and for a moment he was reminded of the day he had wandered into the music room of his elementary school, only to see her at the piano, playing a song called 'Cherry Blossom Ghosts'. It was an obscure piece, and not all that many people knew it, even within the music world. But it was now his favourite, because it reminded him of her, no matter where he heard it.

They stopped under a cherry blossom tree, hands still entwined. Youichi used his free hand to dig in his pocket.

"You know, "he said conversationally, "Usually, it's meant to be the guy that proposes, but we're not exactly traditional. But anyway, I figured that I should at least get a ring." He let go of her hand so he could open the box, and then held it out so she could see the sparkly ring within.

Yumiko's eyes widened, and tentatively, she reached towards the ring. She picked it up, and hummed as she did so. Recognising it as Arima's piano duet 'Incomplete Symphony', he began to hum the other part as Yumiko slipped the ring on her finger and admired it from all angles. As he predicted, it fitted her perfectly.

She looked up and smiled at him, letting the song fade away. The cherry blossoms spun and danced around them as they regarded each other for a moment. Then, Yumiko leapt into his arms.

"Yocchan, I love you!" she declared. He hugged her tightly, and then spun her around and around.

"I love you, too." He told her as they both laughed under the cherry blossoms, paying no attention to the others going by. And as they did, the ghost of a cherry-blossom girl watched from afar, feeling satisfied that she hadn't been forgotten, but also happy that here, in front of her, was yet another love story that had gone right.

**Quick disclaimer that I still don't get the whole fourth grade, fifth grade etc system, so there may be some mistakes in that regard.  
Also, if you do a tumblr search of this fanfic's title, I have drawn some fanart of various characters as they appear in certain moments of the fic, and will probably continue to do so. **

**But anyway, thanks for reading!**


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